welcome back to "morning joe." it's time to talk about what we learned today. let's start with steve rattner? >> i learned richard haass thinks north korea is the thing we should be lying about thinking about. >> wants us talking about it three hours a day. >> three hours a day. man's on a mission. what did you learn? >> i learned there's yet another reason not to drink soda. >> what is that? >> like i need one. it has some strange flame retardant in it. >> i thought that was gatorade. >> orange soda, snaple drinks. >> what time is it? >> it's "morning joe." chuck todd is straight ahead. >> the people have spoken and they want a deal.

brand new poll numbers show us the country is craving a compromise. and guess whose personal ratings are topping the charts? not the president. 2016 sure looks good for the clintons, even though hillary clinton assures us she's not thi running, right now. good morning from washington. it's thursday, december 13, 2012. this is "the daily rundown," i'm chuck todd. the only reason we can't saturday fiscal cliff negotiations have fallen apart is that the two sides are still talking. but things are bad, make no mistake. and neither side is optimistic that anything can get done at all. with congress and the president careening to the edge of the cliff, the public is ignoring party lines and demanding an end

to this mess. 70% of democrats, 59% of republicans want their own party's leaders to come to an agreement, even if it means not sticking to long-held positions on taxes and entitlements and yet despite those demand, the country is evenly divided on whether they think a consensus can be worked out here in washington, whether they believe obama and boehner can strike a deal. interestingly folks that are paying more attention to the fiscal cliff story are more pessimistic. it's the folks paying less attention that are more optimistic. judging by what we're hearing from negotiators, the public clearly knows something is up in the bad way. >> i remain the most optimistic person in this town but we've got some serious differences. the longer the white house slow walks this discussion, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff and the more person

jobs are placed in jeopardy. >> the white house in turn insists its republicans are being inflexible. >> i don't believe that we've heard anything from the leadership that suggests they have moved off their position. they have refused to accept the fundamental fact that hiring -- the top 2% of earners in america are not going to have their tax cuts extended. >> the two sides have been swapping proposals this week but insiders say they didn't view the last white house plan as a serious counteroffer so they resent their original proposal to the president. the problem isn't just there's a big gulf between the two sides, they don't understand how to negotiate with each other. you'd think they might have figured out how to communicate. that hasn't happened. correctly fearing the republicans were insulted by

that offer, the phone call the president had with boehner on tuesday night was an attempt to save the talks and assure boehner that the white house wasn't trying to be insulting with their offer and it was a tense conversation. so when it comes to the sticking point, the president has a big edge on this as far as the public is concerned, particularly on taxes and in our poll 76% said they'd be willing to accept higher rates on the wealthy, including 61% of republicans and it was tax rates. that's what we asked in our question, folks. perhaps trying to be sure they don't appear stubborn, republican leadership aides are floating a story overnight that boehner told the president private live that he would be open to more tax revenue but he hasn't budged on the rate issue, more than $800 billion the gop has offered if the president puts more entitlement cuts on the table, though, a place where the democrats are least willing to give ground.

when asked about pain points, 9% of republicans call social security and medicaid the most acceptable place to compromise. neither party wants to be the first party to make a real offer on entitlement public. it's unpopular in both parties, by the way. when asked who they trusted to handle the fiscal cliff, americans told us they trust the president more than the speaker by a 2-1 margin. our poll shows more folks would blame the republicans than the president if they fail to compromise but the real loser is all of washington, of the largest chunk here, a majority, 56%, would blame both sides equally. they would take each other down. one would just go a little built low -- bit lower than the other. the president's job rating is the highest it's been since july 20, '09.

obama's personal rating has bumped up to 53%. the house speaker's personal rating remains 10 points underwater, just 19% view boehner positively. and though republicans have a positive impress of boehner, he's not the rock star in the party. compare his rating among republicans to congressman paul ryan's. and while boehner has a net positive amongs gop, ryan's is a net 50 points. ryan may not challenge boehner soon but it explains why he is watching his back. here's congressman chris van hollen yesterday. >> i'm getting increasingly concerned that one of of the reasons that i speaker i think is deciding to string out these discussions is that he wants to wait until january 3rd when the election for speaker takes place. >> an aide to boehner dismissed

the assertion saying, quote, that's nutty. while president obama has the upper hand, it's not a blowout the bickering over the fiscal cliff has the country even more pessimistic about all of its leader and that's extends to the president. 69% are convinced next year will bring more of the same, a period of division and an inability to compromise. only 26% expect some version of unity. it's a dramatic change. four years ago, wake of obama's historic first election, 52% believed the parties would set aside their differences. not so much anymore. and just 40% are confident washington mututhe president has the right set of goals. while these are slightly better numbers for him since the election, they're much worse than when he entered office in january '09.

yesterday federal reserve chair ben bernanke chastised washington saying the fiscal cliff is already bringing damage to americans. >> why is it that small business confidence dropped so sharply? why are the markets so volatile, even though we've not nn reached the point of the fiscal cliff potentially kicking in, it's already affecting business investment and hiring decision business creating uncertainty or creating pessimism. >> washington, wake up. you're hearing from bernanke, you're hearing from the american people. just get this done. finally, the president faced foreign policy flare-ups around the world this year. its aftermath eroded confidence in obama's overall foreign policy rating. public approval for the president has bounced back to

pre-benghazi levels. 52% approve, 40% disapprove. his potential pick for secretary of state, she is taking on water. u.n. ambassador susan rice's personal rating upside down. first time we've ever tested her. a third of the voters say they don't know who she is. that's amazing that only a third of voters doesn't know who she is. among those who do know her, only 20% view her positively, 20% negatively, for now benghazi has taken a back seat to syria, where the syria military is now firing scud missiles at rebel forces in the north, almost thumbing its nose a little bit at the world community here. jim joins me now. it's as if essentially they've

seen the line the world is drawing when it comes to chemical weapons and feel they can do almost anything else. >> u.s. officials said this is a clear sign the assad regime in damascus is becoming ever more desperate. this is the first time in a two-year war that the syrian military has used these scud missiles against the rebels. they fired six to eight of them into the north, presumably at rebel strongholds. at least two of them, there are reports, fell in neighborhoods. there are other signs that would make it appear anyway that the assad regime is in its final days. even the russians are saying publicly that they're growing more pessimistic that they could actually survive. and if they're saying that publicly, the russians have to be putting that into assad's ear. now, let's flip that on its

head. u.s. intelligence today indicates that assad instead of looking for an exit is actually digging in, that the number of defections from the syrian military has gone down considerably, the core syrian military remains very loyal, eager to fight the rebels and that assad has no intention of stepping down any time soon, according to the latest intelligence. i do want to point out, too, that the intelligence on sort of a positive side, even though last week we first reported that the syrian regime had loaded precursor chemicals for sarin gas on aerial bombs, those bombs have not been moved, the activity around those chemical weapon sites has diminished and according to u.s. intelligence, the syrian military at this point anyway has all those sites under total control. >> you're describing an assad

that's basically saying he's not interested in asylum? >> that's right. at least according to the latest intelligence. again, the key here that we've said before, chuck, is that the key here is russia. if they withdraw their total sporks th support, they are syria's strongest ally in the middle east, then game is over. but at the same time russia is signaling don't you think it's time to take a ticket out of damascus and assad is not responding. and another indication is that there are no -- and i mean no -- u.s. military preparations under way for a time when assad may fall and the u.s. military along with the rest of the world may have to get involved. >> keeping the peace or something like that anyway. busy days at the pentagon for you. thank you, sir. up next, the two most popular

democrats in the country, neither one of them are named obama. they both share the same last name. they're both named clinton. hillary clinton now says that, quote, all doors are open after she steps down as secretary of state. that means that 2016 buzz won't go away any time soon. >> still to come, majority of the country now supports same-sex marriage. a look ahead at the president's schedule. kind of quiet today. if he does something public, might be a bad time in the fiscal talks. if he keeps it private, maybe we find out they're sneaking the speaker into the white house today. you're watching "the daily rundown "identify only on msnbc. ♪ ♪ obligations, but obligations. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors

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well, will they or won't they? it's a 2016 speculation game that's never going to go away, at least until the filing deadline for the new hampshire primary. hillary clinton and chris christie both tried to downplay their prospects for running in interviews with barbara walters. >> what would it take to convince to you run in 2016? >> that's all hypothetical because right now have i no intention of running. >> how do you think you're going to feel in 2016? >> i have no idea. >> she gets these interviews. joining me now, political reporter jonathan martin. have i to say, you have to be careful not to pop your peas. barbara walters get these interviews, it's not news, i'm

doing a holiday thing. they all sucker in to it because it's a way to talk to a nonpolitical office. hillary clinton's response was to me rather interesting and i think more honest than people realize. >> yeah. >> she's more undecided on this than i think folks realize. >> everybody you talked to around hillary, if you asked her right now, probably not going to do it. but they say if you ask her a year from now -- >> after the rest. >> she's exhausted. but after she's been down for a year, you're waking up and it's tuesday morning, you don't have anything to do. but at some point when you're as passionate about politics and public service as the clintons are, you have to wonder what's next. >> if i told you in december 2008 that bit end of 2012 the

two most popular democrats in the country would both be named clinton, look at this. positive rating bill clinton, 60-24. hillary clinton, 58-28. if you can't beat 'em, join them. it's what bill clinton deep sided to do and he went all in for obama in a way people didn't think was possible and it paid for him him. >> both of their -- it's why people like us can never say never. there's something about them that draws you back in. >> it's not just reporters. clearly it's the public. >> we've all talked about this. i always think the best indicator is whether you might run for president again, you've run before. you've got it. it's the carville. you never lose that fire. not really talking about it by biden is the same way.

i don't know that we rule out joe biden. he's run for president twice before in his own right. >> in many ways it's the only -- barbara walters has to ask the question. it's almost easier than sometimes a beat reporter asking the question when it comes to chris christie and what may be the thing that sort of is a cloud that follows him around about running for national office. here's the question about his personal weight. >> there are people who say that you couldn't be president because you're so heavy. what do you say to them? >> that's ridiculous. i mean, that's ridiculous. i don't know what the basis for this is. >> i think they are worried about your health. >> well, i've done this job pretty well and i think people watched me for the last number of weeks with hurricane sandy and doing 18 hours days and getting right back up the next day and being just as effective in the job so i don't think that will be a problem. >> if he runs for president, the version of where his tax returns are going to be, let's see your

medical records. >> dr. lawrence k. altman, a long-time reporter, who is a doctor, who is prania when it comes to this, you can see them say show us the records, what was your last doctor visit, blood pressure, et cetera, et cetera. i do think that the era that we're in where we have calorie counts on menus, where mcdonald's is sort of losing value, greek yogurt is taking off, we're in this more health focused era. people are more cognizant of obesity issues than they've been in a long, long time. but you're absolutely right, chuck. this will be the obsession -- >> it will be his tax returns essentially. >> in terms of being compliant. >> and that answer won't -- the truth of the matter is it's not

ridiculo ridiculous. ultimately the health and well being of the president, you're electing the most powerful person in the world. and this is -- >> by the way, driving around doing this, yes, he's worked 18-hour day, i'm sorry, it is different. we all work 18, 20-hour days. if you're traveling and doing it, it's a lot harder on your health than if you do it within a confined geographic area. >> being governor of new jersey is difficult. the level of stress being a governor of a state versus being the president of the united states is not the same thing. >> let's talk quickly about fiscal policy here. john boehner is just -- he's trying to triangulate here a little bit. and he's trying to bring his conference along. he is begging the white house to show him a path out. and the white house is sitting there going why do we do you any favors? you can understand the politics of it going why? why should do i you a favor, you

did me no favors but at some point somebody is going to have to say okay, uncle, let's do this over here. >> the polling that you guys and the journal had would indicate that the public wants to get a deal done but as we know, there was that great jonathan weisman piece in the "times" this week that pointed out half the republican conference in the house was re-elected with 55% of the vote. the pointing being the political leverage with those members of congress come from the primary, not from the general election and that's what drives it. >> it is splitting the party. the guys that are statewide office holders are going to the house republicans you're killing party as a national -- and they are. if they're not careful, they are. >> you guys heard about it this morning, i wrote about it. the republican brand,

republicans this morning are pointing to a number that says 56% of people will blame both sides equally. that is true but the republican brand in there -- 17% of people had something positive to say about republicans, 65 says something negative. you get into a pr war where president obama is pretty popular and the other side is incredibly unpopular. i don't care who blames whom. >> but it shows you there is a -- like i said, i had a republican say to me, can't go any lower. >> i guess. but is that a way back to the white house? >> they argue it's leverage. >> i guess. >> a form of leverage. >> the primary is the great story of our time. the primary now trumps everything and especially on the republican side. >> jonathan martin, chris cillezza, always fun.

>> a super show to help a super storm. rock 'n' roll's biggest names came out to play last night. but first today's trivia questi question. 11 states with republican governors voted for president obama. how many states democratic states did mitt romney win? she is using nonethnic packaging. begin.

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rocket on wednesday, there are conflicting stories whether satellites the north claims are aboard is working. south korean officials say it's orbiting normally. u.s. and global leaders are expressing outrage over the launch itself, which many believes was a test of a lon long-rang missile. here's defense secretary leon panetta. >> the fact that they've launched this missile is clear provocation. we've warned them not to do it. one of the reasons we're real balancing the pacific is to deal with the threat from north korea. and we will. we're prepared to do that. we'll respond if we have to. >> breaking news out of afghanistan where leon panetta had been visiting. a car bomb went off just hours after he left. officials say the secretary was never in danger. >> jerry brown is fighting

cancer. it's the second time since returning to office and the third time since 2008. his office said the 74-year-old is undergoing radio therapy for early stage prostate cancer but said he won't miss work. he was treated for skin cancer in 2008 and 2011. >> last night's 121212 concert raised $30 million for victims of hurricane sandy. it included springsteen and bon jovi, alycia keys, the rolling stones, the who and paul mccartney. here's a little taste of another legend, billy joel. ♪ got washed away, jamaica bay and sent manhattan out to sea ♪ ♪ ♪

>> some of us couldn't go to the show so this is the best we got, right? right, mr. williams? the opening bell is ringing on wall street after new reports out this morning seem to show the economy rebounding from superstorm sandy. jobless claims dropped from 370,000 to 343,000, the lowest level in two months, presandy. november retail rose 0.3% and wholesale prices fell more than expected, a big reason for that steep drop in the price of gas. >> word cloud alert. the gop brand slam. we'll show you a clear picture of why, as one of our pollsters put, it the republican party has gone over the image cliff. only on msnbc. th your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down.

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just two aleve can keep pain away all day. restore revive rejuvenate rebuild rebuild rebuild oh, let me guess --ou see this? more washington gridlock. no, it's worse -- look, our taxes are about to go up. not the taxes on our dividends though, right? that's a big part of our retirement. oh, no, it's dividends, too. the rate on our dividends would more than double. but we depend on our dividends to help pay our bills. we worked hard to save. well, the president and congress have got to work together to stop this dividend tax hike. before it's too late.

so as the country teeters on the edge of this fiscal cliff, the republican party appears to have already gone over the image cliff. in our "deep dive" today, we're going to dig into our new poll to see what it says about the party brand going forward. using responses to our nbc/"wall street journal" poll, look at how people describe the gop, words like, bad, weak, negative, uncompromising, out of touch. 1 10 of the top 11 responses were negative. less than 20% were positive overall. let's look at the word cloud when asked about the democratic brand, if you will. the top description in the party is that it's, quote, for the people and the working class. another top answer was they're doing a good job. they didn't got off the hook, though. confused and misguided was the

second most common description. in raw numbers, the democrats are at a plus 9 positive rating, the gop underwater, negative 15% to 30% approve, 45% disapprove, as can you see there, not good at this point in time. mika, let me start with your side of the aisle now. i dug into the cross tabs. the only two groups that are sort of not affiliated with political groups that had a net positive rating on the republican party were folks that live in rural america and folks that live in the south and even that want great, 39-38, 39-33. >> yeah.

>> i mean, is it even worse than it looks? or is this a -- is this a kick the loser right after an election? >> i think you got to have perspective. the perspective here is that look at 2008, in december 2008, the parties numbers were actually even a touch worse than that and then two years later, november 2010, the republicans pick up 62 seats in the house and six seats in the senate. american politics are fluid and right now it's a bad fluid, bad mojo for the republican party. that's what happens after a loss like this, there's some introspection and there's a lot of media attention on where the republican party is. >> fred, before you jump in, i want to throw up more on the republican side of the aisle. we tested paul rivian, mitt romney, john boehner and the republican party as a whole. paul ryan comes out with the best ratings. among just republicans earlier

he's through the roof. but he comes out the best here. what was interesting is look at mitt romney and what you guys point out in the analysis, mitt romney faring a lot worse than even john kerry or john mccain did. >> that's definitely a kick the loser unfairly. i think going back to the republican party brand, i think that their numbers are roughly where they were four years ago. what's interesting is it took most of 2009 and into 2010 for the republicans to start to recover. but, you know, it's really interesting. i think the party has a cult and i think they might have recovered slightly in november 2010 but -- >> we're bordering on -- you can argue it's been since 2005 with a blip for about two months in 2010. is that what you're going to -- >> look, the image rating is one

measure and it's a way to look at the parties but it's not determinative of electoral votes, as we've seen. >> one more thing, i think it's not a word cloud and i'm not sure if it's a white cloud or a dark cloud, the interesting thing is republicans are underwater by 37-21. the democrats aren't much better at 36-26. part of the issue is the base. 80% of democrats are favorable to the democratic party. that number is only 65% for republicans. >> i assume that number recovers fairly quickly. that is a depression of losing feeling. >> think of the years of second term president and struggles we see in the poll in terms of the economy, people think weerg in a recession. there's a whole other story. >> that's why i want to move on. the president's ratings start with good ratings, job

performance up 53%, handling of the economy, he's right side up for the first time in four years. september 2009 is the last time he was right side up. but it is a tempered expectation, if you will. there's still some questions about does he have the right economic vision, if you will. so there seems to be -- maybe those in the white house say, hey, i had one person say that's a good thing, we came in with too high of expectations. that's not a ton of confidence. >> we had these same numbers. i think basically the same discussions about a year ago before the republican field was fluid and, look, it's been a tough, four, five years as a country. this is measurements of how tough it is to govern. it's going to be tough for the president. but, you know, when we -- and the poll shows when he's compared to boehner, when he's compared to republican, sometimes elections or policy differences are about choices. and if it's the president versus the republicans, he wins. >> he's able to win that choice. >> i want to move to gay

marriage here, micah. in 2004, just eight years ago, 30% of the country was in favor of same-sex marriage. now just eight years later, a majority, 51-40. your boss said people don't understand this and sometimes in our short attention span society, this has been the most rapidly changing issue perhaps in the modern era. >> yeah. and another thing about 2004, 51% were strongly opposed and today 51% are total in favor. >> what do we have 16% in the strongly opposed category? it is really small numbers. >> here's the difference. it's all driven by age. once you hit that 50-year mark you start to get a net oppose. but everybody under 50 is in favor based on this question and the wording. it's all driven by men 50 plus as well. so there's some gender in there as well. but, look, these things are changing quickly because we're a

rapidly aging population. >> george will said it. he said literally opposition to gay marriage is dying off. that's what you're saying our poll shows. >> i would argue one thing. i think this is one issue, actually, guys, where the president has been very influential. when he supported -- >> moved in particular -- >> exactly. our poll is 51% in favor among african-american voters. in 2008 in california when prop 8 was defeated, it only got about 28% of african-americans. >> all right. the clintons, did you think they'd be the most popular politicians in america? >> yes. >> that didn't surprise you? >> no. >> four years ago would you have predicted that? >> no. >> fair enough. fred yang, micah roberts, thank you both. next, the white house soup of the day, it's the right way soup

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♪ the clock keeps ticking on the fiscal cliff talks, plenty of pessimism a deal can get done before christmas. we bring in our gaggle. alfonso agular. blanche, i want to start with you. do the jet fumes of national mean anything anymore? i was confident that a post-election lame duck would sort of make it a lot easier for a deal to be cut but i am -- i'm pretty pessimistic this morning. >> well, i think they know, unfortunately, that there's probably a two-week cushion after the new year of some degree. but i also think that a lot of

members got told that, you know, it doesn't look like anybody's going to work hard enough before christmas -- the christmas break so you're going to be here the week between christmas and new years. so there's a lot of scurrying going on up there. >> and members, they're prepared to stay? >> i think so. >> if they're prepared to stay, the incentive to cut the deal -- you take away a big incentive and that sometimes is helpful in negotiations. it's not just the cliff, you throw in another aspect, which is you assume families say, guys, come home, please. i haven't seen you for two years. >> i'm actually encouraged. for the past weeks they were debating this through the media. now they're finally talking face to face and while speaker boehner said they're still far apart, they're talking to each other. negotiations are ongoing. so i think this is great. i'm a little bit optimistic today. but it's just today. >> i was where you were two days ago but, liz, it seems the way

they traded proposals, what was fascinating about the whole kabuki theater, the republican leadership thousand the white house proposal was insulted. and the white house didn't know they were insulted. was like, wow, are you misreading this already? nobody wants to own the entitlement cuts. the president isn't going to be the, quote, brave one and neither does speaker boehner want to be the, quote, brave one on this. >> to get home isn't the only pressure they're facing. compromise. republicans and democrats widely favor compromise. stalemate is a political loser pore both side for both sides. each side is going to have to give something up. >> what if the republicans come to the conclusion that, yes, it's a loser but we're already in the hole, it's a bigger loser for the democrats and the

president and we can just shut down his second term? >> i don't think they can reach that conclusion. every poll shows republicans will be blamed so they have to get out of the hole. i think at some point some republicans are starting to accept some increase in tax rates. the question is what that increase would look like. perhaps they could come forward and say, well, let's increase the tax rates for millionaires, not for people making over 250. i don't know. >> and the white house calculation is simply, blanche, that they don't want to negotiate with themselves. they're sitting there going no, no, no, you give on rates, say uncle on that and we'll talk about everything else. and boehner is saying i'm not saying uncle yet on that. >> compromise has got to be a part of it for both of them in terms of image, in terms of results. there's no way that they can get to where they need to be without compromise. >> do you think there's a point, though, that the president has to say they're not going to be grownups so i have to do it, or either side says it about the

other. boehner says it for the uncle, he won't say it so fine, here are my entitlement cuts? >> i think the meetings that you're seeing, it's very promising. i know they say to the press often times but they're still meeting and their staffs are still meeting and that's really critical. >> i also had a pessimist say to me we're always going to say we're meeting because we're not going to have the blame game of who ended talks first. >> both sides are doing the same thing. they're sides are doing the sale thing. they're saying one thing in public to, you know, put pressure on the other but frankly, we don't know what they're saying in private. we really don't. there are five people that that room making decisions, discussions. >> i think it's less than that. >> all right. but the point being, each of them are playing on two different tracks, right? they're playing the public game because they have to for the

external politics for their base but they still are, from what i'm told, trying to reach -- >> i know, it's not as good in private as we think, guys. that's where i got depressed over the last 24 hours. stick around, we're going to talk about the gop issue and what hillary clinton said. how many states with democratic governors did mitt romney win on election day? the answer is six. west virginia, missouri, arkansas, kentucky and north carolina, and yes, we count north carolina. we know that they will not have a democrat governor much longer. at the time of that, mccrory won the race. if you've got a public trivia question, send us to "the daily rundown" at msnbc.com. 43 states voted the same way. we'll be right back.

let's bring back the gag. senator lincoln, i got to ask you this, arkansas native. you heard hillary clinton's response. how believable it is to you? >> well, you know, i don't know. >> you always believe that clinton is going to run for something, don't you? are you conditioned like that in arkansas? >> you kind of are. but i mean, i think she did such an incredible job before. obviously, i was an early supporter of senator clinton's when she ran. i think she did an incredible job as secretary of state. >> can you underestimate the movement aspect as first woman? do you think it would be the real coronation that everybody miscalculated eight years ago? >> look at the polls you're putting out about women and what they're thinking about. they want somebody that's practical, and pragmatic and work to get results. women are getting over the tom in these polls about let's get real about getting the job done. >> i want to get to the kriscy r

christie thing. how do you handle the weight thing? >> it's more about a leader who is healthy. >> if you were giving advice, how would you deal with it? >> it's an image thing. you're just honest. he said he's been dealing with it. what else should you say? i don't think it's that important. >> fair or unfair, it's going to be his medical records. alfonso, you first. >> puerto rico. the people of puerto rico, in november sent a clear message they want a change in status. president obama and the white house said they want to work with congress. >> did they say that? >> it's time to let the people of puerto rico obtain full political rights, independence or statehood. >> my parents have been married 67 years in canton.

>> 67. >> they're both in their 90s. they're doing great. >> hey, listen to this shameless plug -- >> no, i'm not going to use that one. i'm a fan of small business. and i'm really concerned about the recent optimism poll that came out. three-year low. the key to bringing the economy back and we've got to support our small businesses. >> sure. in washington right now. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." tomorrow, the senate exit series is back. we'll see you then. chris jansing is next. bye-bye. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. so i never missed a beat. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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